Sumitomo group launches online grocer Sukamart in Indonesia

The next generation of grocery shopping is finally here in Indonesia.

Recently, a joint venture between Japan-based Sumitomo Corporation and Sumitomo Indonesia known as Sumisho E-Commerce Indonesia has officially launched its Indonesian grocery e-commerce website Sukamart.com. This spells revolution, as it cuts down hours of being stuck in traffic and utilizing those hours to do something more useful. This e-commerce site not only gives you the flexibility to shop online but delivering your groceries to your doorstep as well. Sukamart has six main product categories namely food, beverages, personal care, health products, baby care as well as home and kitchen. Currently they have more than 1,000 products and they will deliver your groceries within two days of your purchase for Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi) residents. They also cater to nationwide delivery but will take more days and is more expensive.

Making payments is easy as Sukamart allows bank transfer from BCA, Mandiri and BRI accounts. Free delivery service is available for up to 5kg of groceries in Jabodetabek area until January 31^st. Sukamart also plans to add over 15,000 products by the end of this year and to expand their delivery service outside the pre-planned area. This e-commerce site is going to offer cash on delivery (COD) payment service and other payment methods such as credit cards and internet banking will be supported soon.

Many Indonesians can now experience the comfort of buying groceries online as beating the traffic jam will not be a part of their shopping problem now. Major grocers such as Giant and Carrefour in Indonesia have yet to launch this full online shopping service for their customers. However, Carrefour lets customers buy online and pick up their groceries at selected stores. Online shopping is fast, discreet and easy. It is no wonder shoppers are filling up virtual carts instead of visiting brick-and-mortar shops. Perhaps it is about time to encourage all major grocers to launch online shopping for the ease and comfort of shoppers.

Source : DailySocial

Image Credits : Riches Corner

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Sumitomo group launches online grocer Sukamart in Indonesia

The next generation of grocery shopping is finally here in Indonesia.

Recently, a joint venture between Japan-based Sumitomo Corporation and Sumitomo Indonesia known as Sumisho E-Commerce Indonesia has officially launched its Indonesian grocery e-commerce website Sukamart.com. This spells revolution, as it cuts down hours of being stuck in traffic and utilizing those hours to do something more useful. This e-commerce site not only gives you the flexibility to shop online but delivering your groceries to your doorstep as well. Sukamart has six main product categories namely food, beverages, personal care, health products, baby care as well as home and kitchen. Currently they have more than 1,000 products and they will deliver your groceries within two days of your purchase for Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi) residents. They also cater to nationwide delivery but will take more days and is more expensive.

Making payments is easy as Sukamart allows bank transfer from BCA, Mandiri and BRI accounts. Free delivery service is available for up to 5kg of groceries in Jabodetabek area until January 31^st. Sukamart also plans to add over 15,000 products by the end of this year and to expand their delivery service outside the pre-planned area. This e-commerce site is going to offer cash on delivery (COD) payment service and other payment methods such as credit cards and internet banking will be supported soon.

Many Indonesians can now experience the comfort of buying groceries online as beating the traffic jam will not be a part of their shopping problem now. Major grocers such as Giant and Carrefour in Indonesia have yet to launch this full online shopping service for their customers. However, Carrefour lets customers buy online and pick up their groceries at selected stores. Online shopping is fast, discreet and easy. It is no wonder shoppers are filling up virtual carts instead of visiting brick-and-mortar shops. Perhaps it is about time to encourage all major grocers to launch online shopping for the ease and comfort of shoppers.

Source : DailySocial

Image Credits : Riches Corner

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Singapore’s Tabsquare Raises Over $480,000 to Further Fund e-Menu System

Singapore-based e-menu startup Tabsquare has announced today that it has raised S$589,000 (or about $480,000) in funding from local incubator Get2Volume, along with co-funding from Singapore’s National Research Foundation. The startup aspires to use the funds to further develop its restaurant e-menu system.

The startup, founded by three graduates from INSEAD, uses a tablet-based solution, which integrates cloud-based data storage, inventory managment, CRM, and point-of-sales systems. There is also multi-language support on the customer side, as well as the capability to vary your pricing according to the time of day, or day of the week.

The startup claims that this results in lower waiting times, and a more engaging experience for the customer. For the restaurant, it gets all the afore-mentioned services for a monthly fee.

In addition to its e-menu solution, the startup also has a repertoire of other tablet-based solutions for different sectors of the hospitality industry, such one for hotels, and another for small kiosks. Mike Holt, the CEO of Get2Volume added in the announcement:

While there are many restaurant back end systems that manage efficiencies and inventory, there is little that addresses front-end efficiency management and consumer experience in the restaurant. […] We are pleased to incubate and fund Tabsquare to continue to grow its cloud-based retail management system.

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Vserv launches AudiencePro platform, brings Airtel on board

Vserv has launched AudiencePro platform, enabling advertisers to target campaigns based on demographics, spending power, network usage, location, content relevance & device specific data, to reach the right audience. The AudiencePro platform will allow advertisers to reach mobile subscribers with relevant ads, displayed on multiple inventory sources across the Vserv.mobi network, including 20,000+ Apps powered by it’s AppWrapper technology.

The platform will include support for all creative formats, including impactful rich media formats such as Full Screen Ads, Video and HTLM5 interactive ads.

Vserv’s AudiencePro Platform

Airtel Partnership

Vserv has signed up Airtel as it’s first Telco partner. Using the platform, telcos will get an opportunity to explore mobile advertising. The platform will also appeal to Vserv.mobi’s publishers & developers, who will experience higher levels of monetization, due to the audience profile layer being enabled on their inventory, without any additional cost.

Recommended Read: Ten Commandments of Mobile Marketing

Related posts:

1. IDG Ventures Invest $3mn In Mobile Ad Network, Vserv
2. Komli Launches ATOM, RTB (Real Time Bidding) Platform
3. Airtel forays into mobile advertising business

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Mobile Education product, English On Mobile helps you learn English (sans smartphones, Internet connectivity)

English is the language of aspirations, the inherent belief that the command over the language opens a huge number of avenues and opportunities has struck a chord with a large number of the Indian population. No wonder we have seen English learning institutes cropping up in every nook and cranny of small towns and cities. But a new service called “English On Mobile” adds the much needed zing to the problem and creates a far reaching solution.

“English On Mobile” is a mobile education product with a sole focus on teaching the language to the people. The ingenuity of the product lies in teaching people command over spoken English without the need for a smartphone or a data connection.

The package costs INR 799 and has access to all the three modules of the product which are in the form of the Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. The student on buying the product is given an access key which is confirmed and registered to their number when they join for the first time.

Then a basic assessment is done for a student to determine his English proficiency level and once that is done the student can pursue through the curriculum. The student is free to go back and revise the older modules as many times as they like.

The system is IVR based which implies that each time a student wants to learn he/she gives a missed call on a number and the automated service calls back. English On Mobile also claims that each week they will have a class where few students pursuing the same modules would join a telephonic call with a real teacher to ask their doubts and have their concepts cleared.

Apart from that the service would have reminders and tips based on the performance of the student and an SMS based question asking system.

The core audience for the product would definitely be in the form of the people belonging to Tier 2 and 3 cities where access to good teaching infrastructure in the form of institutes and learning aids in the form of internet connection and computer is limited.

The team has already done a pilot in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat and is now looking at expanding in the Northern Indian states. The reason for this is the fact that all the teaching modules use Hindi as a base for communication and foundation for teaching English is built upon that.

Right now, a student could order and pay for the product online or use a number of offline channels such as COD, cheque or DD. But they are also exploring offline verticals for publicizing the product and partnering up to offer the product via traditional retail channels.

In our usage of “English On Mobile”, the call was quick to initiate. Merely seconds after we had entered our contact details we were onboard the service already using the modules. But the issue of static (or the noise or disturbance present during a call) in the call was too large to ignore and many a times we couldn’t hear the speaker on the other end due to this. The idea seems well thought out and executed. It just might start off a new phase of personalized learning in smaller regions in the country.

Also see: Learning English becomes easier than ever – Thanks to EnglishLeap  | Learning English becomes easier than ever – Thanks to EnglishLeap

Related posts:

1. Of Google+, English and an iCloud Ad [Product Messaging]
2. 40% of mobile internet users in India ditch newspapers for consuming content on smartphones [Report]
3. Learning English becomes easier than ever – Thanks to EnglishLeap

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Price comparison app PricePinz helps you make smarter purchasing decisions

PricePinz, a new mobile app claims to be the fastest and most useful barcode scanner in Singapore. What does it do?

If you are looking for a specific electronic product, you can use the app to scan the barcode of the item, which will give you some prices of the product from the internet and in nearby stores. This will allow you to make smarter purchasing decisions and possibly save some money as well.

Some of its other features include scan and search, reading product reviews, discover special offers and deals, as well as the feature to buy an item directly from the retailer e-commerce website.

 

We spoke to Kevin Straszburger, co-founder on the newly launched app.

Could you share with us some of the tractions of PricePinz so far?

We’ve 25 different retailers on board with  a total of 65 stores throughout Singapore and more than 4.000 products in total. Moreover we noticed during December 700 “search” (which means 700 times people scan a barcode or type the name of a specific product inside the app’) and 800 tap on deals (on the dealscreen inside the app’).

Are you guys solely focusing on electronics only?

For now yes, but we have plans in mid term to expand to other verticals such as groceries, apparel, and typically anything that has a barcode.

How is PricePinz collecting the reviews and ratings from users? Any plans to leverage on existing reviews and ratings available on the web?

For the moment we focus on collecting store reviews. We find there is a lack in this field in Singapore (for electronic products). Once we’ll expand to other verticals it could be clever indeed to leverage on existing reviews and ratings available, we’ll see.

What worries you most about PricePinz?

Actually we’re confident that everything will go great. Thanks to our smartphones we are at a time where everyone needs a convergent point between off and online world. And we think that shopping experience could be much more improved.

Will it work in Singapore? Possibly, although it may require a lot of work before it gets there. Building a community of PricePinz users as well as curating inventories and new contents are not easy tasks. A similar startup which tries to tackle the same problem is Save22, which rebranded itself from the name LobangClub. While Save22 has been around for more than a year, we have not heard from them for quite some time.

You can download the PricePinz app here and let us know what you think.

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Price comparison app PricePinz helps you make smarter purchasing decisions

PricePinz, a new mobile app claims to be the fastest and most useful barcode scanner in Singapore. What does it do?

If you are looking for a specific electronic product, you can use the app to scan the barcode of the item, which will give you some prices of the product from the internet and in nearby stores. This will allow you to make smarter purchasing decisions and possibly save some money as well.

Some of its other features include scan and search, reading product reviews, discover special offers and deals, as well as the feature to buy an item directly from the retailer e-commerce website.

 

We spoke to Kevin Straszburger, co-founder on the newly launched app.

Could you share with us some of the tractions of PricePinz so far?

We’ve 25 different retailers on board with  a total of 65 stores throughout Singapore and more than 4.000 products in total. Moreover we noticed during December 700 “search” (which means 700 times people scan a barcode or type the name of a specific product inside the app’) and 800 tap on deals (on the dealscreen inside the app’).

Are you guys solely focusing on electronics only?

For now yes, but we have plans in mid term to expand to other verticals such as groceries, apparel, and typically anything that has a barcode.

How is PricePinz collecting the reviews and ratings from users? Any plans to leverage on existing reviews and ratings available on the web?

For the moment we focus on collecting store reviews. We find there is a lack in this field in Singapore (for electronic products). Once we’ll expand to other verticals it could be clever indeed to leverage on existing reviews and ratings available, we’ll see.

What worries you most about PricePinz?

Actually we’re confident that everything will go great. Thanks to our smartphones we are at a time where everyone needs a convergent point between off and online world. And we think that shopping experience could be much more improved.

Will it work in Singapore? Possibly, although it may require a lot of work before it gets there. Building a community of PricePinz users as well as curating inventories and new contents are not easy tasks. A similar startup which tries to tackle the same problem is Save22, which rebranded itself from the name LobangClub. While Save22 has been around for more than a year, we have not heard from them for quite some time.

You can download the PricePinz app here and let us know what you think.

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Here’s a Heatmap of WeChat Users Around the World

The WeChat messaging app seems to be China’s biggest social media export to date. But, apart from Tencent telling us that the “focus is Asia,” no one knows where WeChat is proving popular. Keen to find out where the app is doing well, the China-oriented consultants Value2020 have come up with this neat heatmap. We’re told that the map is collated “based on app stores’ rankings” of WeChat, balanced by a “percentage of smartphones connected to the internet” in that country. While it’s far from an official way of tracking WeChat’s near 300 million user-base, it seems like a decent approach to find such elusive information. Of course, download numbers and app store tallies don’t equate to registered or active users, so that has to be thrown in there as a disclaimer. In demand in India, Malaysia The WeChat heatmap reveals that Tencent’s Asia strategy is paying off, with strong popularity for the app in places like Malaysia. Indeed, Tencent’s country manager for that area revealed a while back that WeChat has one million users in Malaysia, so that’s a useful, solid reference point. The Value2020 team says that India is actually the second-most popular area for WeChat outside of its native China. So long as the app’s censorship slip-up last week doesn’t put off overseas users, it looks like WeChat is building up a strong bulwark against Line and Whatsapp in some crucial, mobile-oriented markets. In terms of recent trends, we’re informed that the messaging app is now growing even faster in India than it was last year, and it has been taking off in Spain, Mexico, and Argentina since last summer. Here’s the heatmap that Value2020 cooked up: [Source: Value2020] For more fun graphics like this one, check out previous entries in our infographic series.

The post Here’s a Heatmap of WeChat Users Around the World appeared first on Tech in Asia.

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eMenu provider TabSquare gets USD480K in seed funding from Get2Volume and NRF

TabSquare, a Singapore-based eMenu provider for restaurants, today announced that it has raised SGD 589K (USD 480K) from Get2Volume with co-funding from the Singapore National Research Foundation via the Technology Incubation Scheme.

The company is essentially an end-to-end service provider to restaurants and resorts. It offers a range of products, including interactive menus displayed from tablets, order management systems, real-time queue management systems, and self-order kiosks.

Besides supplying software, the company also provides hardware, security, internet connectivity, analytics, maintenance support, consulting, as well as marketing. These services are provided with a monthly subscription, charged based on per tablet menu.

The company has signed up an initial batch of customers. It includes Kinara Restaurant in Holland Village, Singapore, as well as a “high-end resort chain” and several restaurant chains in Singapore. More details will be announced later.

TabSquare also has several new features and products in the pipeline. It is working on integrating its solutions with existing online reservation providers. While specifics have not been revealed, prominent online reservation startups in Singapore would include Reserveit.sg and Chope.

Also in the works is an eButler service for hotels, which enables guests to book services such as spa appointments, room service, and in-room dining — all from a tablet. The company is also set to launch mServe, an iOS and Android app that gives restaurant customers the ability to access a menu, order items, and make payments from their smartphones. This eliminates the need for waiters to hand out menus.

“While there are many restaurant back end systems that manage efficiencies and inventory, there is little that addresses front-end efficiency management and consumer experience in the restaurant,” said Mike Holt, CEO of Get2Volume, an early stage investment firm that focuses on security, biomedics, energy efficiency, and interactive digital media (see SGE’s coverage of Get2Volume’s activities).

Since starting in June 2012, TabSquare has been hiring in order to scale up. In December last year, it posted job offerings seeking a business development executive, an iOS programmer, and a PHP developer.

The company is founded by three INSEAD MBA graduates. Chirag Tejuja, the VP of sales and partnerships, was an engineer and products manager in the plastics industry. He is joined by Anshul Gupta, who has over 7 years of experience in consumer goods marketing and is a programmer, as well as Sankaran Sreeraman, who has done over 8 years of operations and procurement work.

As an end-to-end service provider, TabSquare’s key challenge is scalability. Unlike the usual SaaS startups, the company provides more than software, even going as far as setting up an internet connection for establishments that lack one. These clients need a lot of handholding and customer support, contributing to the company’s operational costs.

The upside is that if TabSquare successfully captures the market, it would be hard for its clients to switch to an alternative due to the high costs of doing so. That is assuming it is able to demonstrate to customers that implementing these services can lead to greater efficiency, revenue, and customer experience.

The post eMenu provider TabSquare gets USD480K in seed funding from Get2Volume and NRF appeared first on SGE.

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DailyDose: Websites of MIT & DOJ down as Investigation into Swartz suicide begins

After Rocky Year for Start-Ups, Investors Are Pickier

Call it the Facebook effect. Until recently, investors had been all too eager to pour millions into any Web start-up with rapid growth, regardless of whether it made money or even had plans to do so down the road. But after Facebook’s rocky initial public offering and flameouts at Zynga and Groupon, venture capitalists are entering a picky phase.  Read more here.

Oracle Corp fixes Java loophole

Oracle released an emergency software update today to fix a security vulnerability in its Java software that could allow attackers to break into computers. The update, which is available on Oracle’s Web site, fixes a critical vulnerability in Oracle’s Java 7 that could allow a remote, unauthenticated attacker to execute arbitrary code. The attack can be induced if someone visits a Web site that’s been set up with malicious code to take advantage of the hole.  [Source]

MIT.edu, DOJ.gov, W3.gov All Currently Down Following Investigation Into Swartz Tragedy

Aaron Swartz (Image: Wikipedia)

Following calls for an investigation into the prosecution and recent suicide of internet activist, Aaron Swartz, MIT’s website is currently down. MIT’s President L. Rafael Reif today called for an investigation into the handling of the case brought against Swartz for his release of pay-walled academic papers from popular database, JSTOR.

As of this writing, DOJ.gov, which redirects to the Justice.gov, the Department of Justice Website, was also down, as was the redirect for the World Wide Web Consortium, w3.gov. [Source] For more an Swartz, read TheSunnyMag.

Britain Set to Join High-Speed Mobile Party

This month, OfCom plans to remove the obstacle that has consigned most British consumers to the wireless slow lane — a lack of broadcast spectrum. The regulator, which has not announced a start date, plans to sell 250 megahertz of spectrum vacated by television broadcasters or freed up by the government, representing an 80 percent expansion of the licensed airwaves, in an auction involving seven bidders. [Source]

Related posts:

1. TheSunnyMag: RIP Aaron Swartz. [Obituary]
2. Oracle Launches Big Data Appliance in India
3. Tech Around WWWorld–Oracle Sues Google over Android, IE9 Beta on September 15th [and more]

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WI Harper and TMI funds children entertainment studio Roam & Wander

Roam & Wander Limited, a children’s entertainment studio based in Hong Kong and Taipei, has received Series A investments from leading venture firms WI Harper and TMI.

Roam & Wander is reimagining the way software, devices and toys come together to create new entertainment and learning experiences for kids ages two to six. Roam & Wander’s launch title, Sticker Games, is a top-ranked game for iPad, and the first game in the App Store that rewards kids for their achievements with real stickers delivered right to their door.

The company will use the new funds to grow the TuTu and DiDi brands by entering the toy market and expanding the company’s games and apps business. As part of this expansion, Roam & Wander announced the launch of TuTu, a stuffed toy that brings the character to life using an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch. Kids can play games with TuTu, listen to stories, and interact with her by feeding and taking care of her using toys that interact with the TuTu iPhone app.

“We’re creating physical+digital experiences for kids that give them the opportunity to really play in the full sense of the word, exercising their mind and their body as they have fun,” said Jason Warren, Founder and CEO of Roam & Wander. “Our goal is to establish Roam & Wander as the brand parents think of first as the leader in games and app-enabled toys for young kids, and the investments and expertise from WI Harper and TMI will be important in helping us grow into the leadership position.”

“There is no established leader in kids games on iOS or Android in the greater China Market. Not only does Roam & Wander have a strong and talented team, but its design philosophy and product differentiation are distinct advantages. Their products differ from typical kids game apps by integrating physical toys and rewards.  We are pleased to be working with R&W and look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship,” commented Edward Liu, Partner at WI Harper Group.

Roam & Wander is also participating in the 2013 Toys & Game Fair in Hong Kong between January 8 to 9 and will be demonstrating TuTu and Sticker Games.

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